Richard Baker

Assistant Director, School of Education

Education

2011: Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and InstructionLouisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LADissertation: The relationship between music and visual arts formal study and academic achievement
on the eighth-grade Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) test.

2002: Master of Education in Educational Leadership; Louisiana Administration/Supervision
CertificationUniversity of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA

1997: Ball State University, Muncie, INBachelor of Science in Music Education

Biography

Dr. Baker began as a music educator in St. Charles Parish Public Schools. From 2002-2013
he was the Fine Arts Program Coordinator for the Louisiana Department of Education.
He served the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards on the Music Standards National
Writing Committee and co-chaired the grades 6-8 sub-committee. Prior to joining the
School of Education, Dr. Baker served as an assistant professor at Southern University
and A & M College and the university liaison to SACS-COC.

Previous accomplishments include leading a team of 65 teaching artists, arts educators,
administrators, and university professors to create more than 3,200 pages of model
arts lessons based on the Louisiana state standards. These experiences prepared him
to write model curriculum assessments for the New Jersey Department of Education.
He represented Louisiana at the Education Leadership Institute, sponsored by the National
Endowment for the Arts. The State Arts Education Agency Directors of Arts Education
asked him to serve as a co-chair to revise the secondary school course codes for the
National Center for Education Statistics. He has served on grant reading panels for
the National Endowment for the Arts and the United States Department of Education.